By Matt Pearce
Los Angeles Times, November 7, 2018
Liberal-backed ballot measures — especially those involving criminal justice reform or healthcare — had greater success than Democratic candidates.
Party identification is one of the most powerful forces in politics, with many people voting strictly on party lines when it comes to choosing their politicians.
But ballot measures, while often pushing policies favored by one party more than another, don’t come with “D” or “R” labels. Voters can make their choices without feeling like they’re casting their ballots for one party or another.
Most Americans “aren’t particularly ideological,” said Lilliana Mason, a government professor at the University of Maryland and author of a recent book, “Uncivil Agreement,” about identity in politics.
Though Americans are polarized around “who you are, what your identity is,” polling shows that “the public holds fairly liberal positions” on a lot of issues, Mason said.
State-level Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, a major Democratic-supported policy, also saw several victories in deep-red states.
Republican candidate Brad Little trounced Democrat Paulette Jordan 60% to 38% to become governor of Idaho, but voters there approved a Medicare expansion measure 60.5% to 39.5%.
It was a similar story in Nebraska, where voters expanded Medicaid while handily reelecting incumbent Republican Sen. Deb Fischer, another expansion skeptic.
In Utah, Republican Mitt Romney vaulted into the Senate as voters there approved Medicaid expansion and legalized medical marijuana. Romney opposed both measures, saying the issues should instead be addressed by elected officials.
Comment:
By Don McCanne, M.D.
As if we didn’t need another lesson, the midterm election demonstrates again a very important point. Essentially everyone should be able to agree on health care reform (who could ever be opposed to better health for everyone?), and thus we should be able to bypass partisan politics and join together in fixing our system. The midterm election showed that voters can separate policy from partisanship.
A recent American Barometer poll (HillTV/HarrisX) showed that 52 percent of registered Republicans support Medicare for all (“Would you support or oppose providing Medicare to every American?”). That is in spite of the fact that the Republican politicians spent years trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Policy and partisanship are not welded together.
Initially the process that led to the Affordable Care Act was bipartisan, even if some memories suppress that fact. It was only because of a political decision made by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to use this process to discredit President Obama that the Republicans in the committees shifted to an adversarial position. On the Democratic side they had already decided to abandon single payer in an effort to meet the Republicans on common ground (in spite of the popularity of Medicare for all).
A clear majority of the people want Single Payer Medicare for All, but the opposition remains primarily in the ranks of the politicians. The midterms show that Republican voters can vote for their candidates while still supporting policies that have widespread public support.
Advocates for Single Payer Medicare for All should expand their target for their educational endeavors beyond the the progressives and include conservatives as well. It will be the political base in each party that sends the messages to the politicians. Essentially everyone, except the extreme fringe, wants health care for all. All politicians need to understand that.
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